


Bad Reputation

by NeverOutOfTime



Series: The Officers' Club [2]
Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, Minor spoiler for the Recon short story from the Fowl Files, Post-Series, super minor Fowl Twins spoiler that most people probably know already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28210935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverOutOfTime/pseuds/NeverOutOfTime
Summary: It's Corporal Holly Short's first day on the job as a LEPrecon officer and she knows that there are going to be plenty of fairies who might be thinking that Commander Root was out of his mind for bringing a girl into Recon. She wasn't going to put up with any nonsense from the other officers though, which unfortunately for a rather unlucky sprite, he was going to get to experience that first hand that morning.
Series: The Officers' Club [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855675
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Bad Reputation

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, I suck at summaries. But as long as I get the point across, it'll do. :P
> 
> I wrote this months ago and have just now gotten around to editing it. But alas, here's part 2 of the Officers' Club series! It a bit shorter than part 1 but that's okay. Lots of thanks to Pokegeek151 for beta reading for me!
> 
> Also, I couldn't resist putting the song lyrics. Honestly, that song just screams Holly.

* * *

_I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation_   
_Living in the past, it's a new generation_   
_A girl can do what she wants to do and that's what I'm gonna do_

_-Bad Reputation- Joan Jett & the Blackhearts_

* * *

Corporal Holly Short walked into Police Plaza, golden acorn insignia glittering on her chest. She was early for her shift for once, but honestly, it was mostly because of the excitement and the tinge of anxiety that had crept its way into her mind, seemingly buzzing around her ears. She pushed that feeling to the back of her mind, however, and continued walking, despite noticing a few of the stares from other officers as she headed for Commander Root’s office. She could easily guess what they were thinking; probably all wondering how in Frond’s name a girl passed the Recon initiation. _With a paintball gun and a lot of dumb luck,_ Holly thought, pausing for a moment as she came around the corner and into visible range from Root’s office.

Fortunately for her, she didn’t have long to stand there and think about her worries, as Root had quickly caught sight of her.

“SHORT! Get in here!” he barked, his tone sharp enough that the rest of the officers snapped out of their stupor and quickly returned to their duties. Holly swallowed and hurried into his office, stopping in front of the desk and saluting a bit too clumsily, but if Root noticed, he didn’t comment on it.

“Close the door, Corporal. Have a seat.” Root motioned to the door as he extinguished his cigar. Holly could tell that he wasn’t in the mood for nonsense. When was he ever? She hurriedly did as he asked and took a seat in of the chairs in front of the desk.

“Commander Root- Sir. I’m not in trouble, am I? Frond, I even showed up early for my shift.”

Now that the door was closed and the rest of the Recon officers back to work instead of goggling at the new officer, Root had changed his demeanor slightly. Only just. “No, Short. You’re not. I just wanted a quick word with you this morning.”

Holly relaxed then; she hadn’t even noticed how tense she’d been, and it was relieving to know that she hadn’t messed up already. Not that she intended to. “Oh, thank Frond,” she sighed.

“I wouldn’t relax too much, Corporal. You’ve got to keep your guard up and use your wits. There are many higher-ups who don’t think you’re cut out to be the test case, but I have high hopes for you, and they trust my judgment.” Commander Root paused to let that sink in for a moment. “It’d be a shame if you proved them right because of foolish actions.”

Holly nodded quickly. She wanted to argue that she had only just set foot into the building and had yet to be assigned any work, so how could she fail; but she figured that this would be a bad time to be cocky, so she kept it to herself. Also, considering she had broken nearly every rule in the book during her initation, she figured he had a fair point. It was nice that they were all alive though. She doubted the Commander would be sitting in front of her at the moment if she hadn't jumped into action like she did. “Yes sir. I understand. Completely by the rule book from now on.”

Root snorted. “We’ll see about that. Now, for today and tomorrow, you’ll be shadowing another officer to become familiar with how we run things around here. Normally, we would just have the new inductee get right to work, but due to the circumstances surrounding your initiation, the Council wasn’t keen on letting you have free reign just yet.”

“I understand. That’s… fair, I suppose.” She laughed nervously, clenching and unclenching her fingers a few times. “So, who’s my guide, Commander?”

Commander Root began to respond, just as there was a knock at the door. “Come in!” He called, the usual gruff tone returning to his voice. The door swung open and a familiar violet-eyed elf walked in. Holly resisted rolling her eyes. Of course it was Captain Kelp, though given that she had already met him, it was a smart choice on the Commander’s part. Trouble had been part of the reason that she had gotten the job in the first place, so Holly wasn’t going to complain. He'd nearly put his own job at risk when he stood up for her during the initation; which she had saved his life, so it was only fair in his opinion. Any other officer might not look half as thrilled as he did to be there and Holly couldn’t help but roll her eyes when he smiled at her, a goofy, lopsided grin, yet that quickly disappeared as he approached the desk.

“Good morning, Commander Root. Captain Kelp reporting for guide duty as requested.”

Root was already pulling out his paperwork, sifting through it to see what was of higher importance. “Kelp. You know what we discussed yesterday. It’d be a good idea to log some time in the simulators, but keep your communicator handy in case an assignment shows up for the two of you. Now go on, I have work to do.” He started shooing them away with a wave of his hand. “No fooling around, Short. If you’re going to be in Recon, you’re going to be held to the same expectations as everyone else.” 

Holly jumped up, saluting again. “Of course. All business today, Commander.”

The Commander grunted and got to work, leaving them to follow the instructions he’d given. Trouble headed for the door, Holly right behind him, and as he pushed it open, it became clear that there was a bit of an audience keen on finding out the latest scoop on their new co-worker.

Several of the officers scrambled back and pretended to just be passing by or in conversation with each other, but there was one sprite who sadly didn’t take notice of the social cues and instead addressed the situation directly. 

“Yo, Trouble! Is it true what they’re saying? Is the new corporal seriously a girl? What was Root thinking? Honestly, do they actually think a girl has the skill to make it in Recon?”

After an awkward pause of silence, Trouble sighed, sensing that the scene was about to blow up. Holly was standing beside him, her stature tense. “Verbil, I think you may want to reevaluate your attitude, because-”

Unfortunately, that was as far as he got, because at that moment, Holly pounced and tackled Chix to the ground. The sprite suddenly found himself pinned to the floor, looking right into the hazel eyes of a furious Holly Short, regretting even thinking the words that he had just spoken just minutes before. 

“What was that you were saying? You don’t think I’ll be able to survive around here because I’m a girl? Well, news flash pal. I’m here to stay and nothing is going to stop me from proving I’ve got what it takes, especially not sexist comments from jerks like you.”

Chix opened his mouth to reply, but Trouble was already pulling Holly up. He bit his lip, holding back a laugh. “I told you Chix, I’d watch your mouth-”

“SHORT! KELP! What the blazes is going on here?” Root was standing in the doorway of his office, having heard the latter half of the confrontation in front of his office. His face was slowly turning red as he took in the scene in front of him: Trouble holding back a still fuming Holly; Chix Verbil scrambling to his feet, a sickly pale green tint to his face; and a crowd of other officers looking on in various degrees of shock. 

He looked around at all of them, putting things together piece by piece. He turned back to Holly as Trouble released her, disapproval etched on his features. “Short. Don’t forget our conversation so quickly.”

Holly frowned, motioning to Chix. “But he...”

“No excuses, Short. I don’t want to hear it.” Root turned and went back to his work, slamming the office door closed behind him.

Trouble grimaced and gently guided her down the hallway towards the Ops Booth. “Come on, Corporal. It's not worth getting written up so early in the day. Trust me. Why don’t you join all of us in the officers’ club tomorrow night and settle the score with Verbil off the clock?” he chuckled. “We’ll also get you in on the office pool on how long it’ll take Root’s heart to explode. Currently, the lowest bet is within three decades from now, the highest being after another century.”

Holly raised her eyebrows, laughing incredulously. She was still miffed after the altercation with Chix, rightfully so, but Trouble had such an easy-going demeanor that the tension was starting to dissipate. “You guys have a bet on that?” 

Trouble shrugged, pausing in front of an automatic door and waving up at the camera in front of it. “You saw how red the Commander’s face was. Did you think that we called him Beetroot just to be funny? Don’t worry too much about all of that. You’re not the first to almost start a fight in the hallway. It happens. With all of this arrogance in such close proximity, it's bound to happen some time or another.”

The doors slid open and Trouble led Holly inside the Ops Booth. “Enough of that for now, though. Let’s talk to Foaly and get you some equipment. He’s also a fun guy to talk to, even if he is a bit of a dork,” he whispered, stepping around some discarded pieces of tin foil and wire.

There was a whinny from behind a couple of monitors and old hard drives. “I heard that Kelp! Those are bold words coming from someone who majored in ancient history!”

“Oh, come on Foaly. I kid, you know that. Say, did you happen to see what just went down in front of Beetroot’s office? We haven’t had excitement like that in weeks.” 

Trouble chatted with the centaur amiably, and Holly couldn’t help but smile as she listened to the friendly banter, feeling right at home, the rest of her anger slipping away. Little did she know then, but this was just the beginning of her friendship with the two, and she would not have traded that moment for anything else under the earth.

* * *

The crowd surrounding Holly and Trouble in the officers’ club was nearly rolling with laughter as the Commodore finished up the story about her first day on the job. The Retrieval officers who worked with Major Verbil especially thought it was great, seeing as Chix was a bit more tame these days and spoke very highly of Holly any chance he got.

Speaking of the sprite, the door jingled as it was pushed open and all eyes turned to Major Chix Verbil, who stood there looking quite confused. “Why is everyone looking at me? Is there something on my face?” 

Holly smirked and motioned for him to join the crowd. “Just a bit of reminiscing, Verbil. Come on. Grab a drink and join us.”


End file.
